August 23, 2016

A subsidiary of HNA Ecological Technology Group Co., Ltd., a division of HNA Group of China, has acquired the 29-story office building at 123 Mission Street in San Francisco for $255 million in cash. The Class A office tower was sold by the U.S. subsidiary of Great Eagle Holdings, a Hong Kong real estate company that also owns the luxury hotel chain, Langham Hospitality Group. Great Eagle Holdings' Bay Area arm, Pacific Eagle Holdings, paid $179 million for the office tower December 2013 when it purchased the office building from Sumitomo Corp. of America.

"As the prices of office buildings in San Francisco have appreciated rapidly over the past year, especially in downtown San Francisco where the building is located, the general partner and asset manager believes that it is appropriate to dispose of the property," allowing the seller "to take advantage of the favourable market conditions," Great Eagle Holdings said in the filing.

123 Mission, formerly the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and developed by the Shorenstein Company in 1986; the Gensler-designed lobby was later renovated in 2009. At ground level, the building includes 2,577 square feet of retail space for four vendors, and below grade parking to accommodate up to 90 parking stalls. Located in the San Francisco Financial District’s South of Market submarket, the 346,000 square foot office building is two and a half blocks from San Francisco Bay and a short distance to the AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. The building is currently 95% occupied with 14 tenants, according to financial documents.

August 22, 2016

Minneapolis-based Meritex, a private real estate investment and management company, announced its first acquisition in the Charlotte, NC real estate market with the purchase of the industrial CLT Logistics Center for $46.3 million. In a deal brokered by CBRE, the 11 building industrial complex was sold by Carlson Real Estate. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, and it's unclear when Carlson originally acquired the property.

"This acquisition is in keeping with our strategy of investing in markets that provide opportunity for growth, expansion and diversification," said Dan Williams, chief investment officer for Meritex, in a press release. "The CLT Logistics Center comes with a sizable and diverse array of highly functional assets and excellent tenants. It also provides us with the opportunity to develop up to three modern industrial buildings totaling 200,000 square feet on the adjacent land site."

The 583,021 square foot complex at Yorkmont and International Drive includes a 14-acre land parcel ready for development. Each building features durable and attractive concrete tilt wall construction, 18-20 foot clear heights, full sprinkler system, truck-high loading docks and drive-in doors, and abundant parking. The property was 91% leased at the time of sale with major tenants including Bimbo Bakeries, FedEx and DC74 Data Centers. Foundry Commercial has been named the listing agent and property manager for CLT Logistics Center.

August 19, 2016

Chicago-based Mesirow Financial announced this week that it has acquired the 1.15 million square foot regional headquarters for Verizon in Irving, Texas in a sale-leaseback deal worth $344 million, one of the largest real estate deals in North Texas this year. Mesirow Financial’s Sale-Leaseback Capital group in partnership with Kawa Capital financed the purchase in collaboration with Mesirow Financial’s Credit Tenant Lease and Institutional Sales and Trading groups. Under the terms of the deal, Verizon will lease back the full property for 20 years with optional extensions. Cushman & Wakefield served as Verizon's real estate adviser on the transaction.

"This transaction once again signifies the strong collaboration between our capital markets businesses. We continue to enhance our full-service platform in acquiring single-tenant properties on a national basis, complemented by our strong capabilities in mezzanine and senior debt placement," said Richard Price, chairman and chief executive officer of Mesirow Financial, in a press release.

"This transaction provides our company with immediate financial benefits and does so in a way that supports our continuing interests in the development of Las Colinas. The extension of our tenancy through a sale and restructured lease affirms the value we see of having located in such a dynamic area for so many years," added John Vazquez, senior vice president and head of global real estate for Verizon.

The 51.2 acre campus on Hidden Ridge Drive near State Highway 114 was built in 1991 and sits adjacent to a planned $1 billion mixed-use project dubbed Hidden Ridge, to be developed by KDC and include offices, a new commuter rail station, shops and a hotel. Mesirow Financial plans to invest $20 million to upgrade the parking and facilities at Verizon in the next three years, according to a Dallas Business Journal article. Last May, Mesirow Financial acquired Verizon's campus in New Jersey, which was valued at $650 million, which are among the two largest non-government single asset credit tenant lease deals ever consummated, said Stephen Jacobson, a senior managing director of Mesirow's credit tenant leaseback and structured debt products group.

August 18, 2016

A consortium of real estate developers and investors, including Orr Partners, Redbrick LMD LLC, and Jefferson Apartment Group, led by Western Development Corporation and Akridge announced the acquisition of the former U.S. Coast Guard headquarters at Buzzard Point in DC for $49.3 million. The Akridge and Western Development team said it has plans to redevelop the property with Orr Partners and Jefferson Apartment Group into a mixed use project. Washington-based Redbrick sourced, capitalized, and structured the transaction, with EagleBank and Greenfield Partners providing financing for the project.

"Just as Akridge and Western did so well at Gallery Place, at Riverpoint we will create a place that brings people to a unique spot in DC – the confluence of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers—to enjoy great food, listen to music, and relax at the water's edge," said Herb Miller, Chairman of Western Development Corporation.

"We are thrilled to partner with Western Development again," added Matt Klein, President of Akridge. "Riverpoint is an incredible opportunity and we are eager work with such a talented team to build DC's next great waterfront community there."

The new project, dubbed Riverpoint, will deliver 80,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, as well as over 450 apartment and condominium units and waterfront activities with new piers, floating restaurants and the continuation of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. Riverpoint will feature three sides of unobstructed water views, and connect the area with the new DC United stadium and other developments along the Capitol Riverfront, including the Ballpark District, and The Wharf. Western Development will lead the development and leasing of the retail and waterfront portions of the project.

August 17, 2016

BKM Tukwila 117, an LLC associated with BKM Capital Partners of Irvine, California, has purchased a 30.3-acre industrial park in Tukwila, Washington for $45.2 million according to King County records. The 27 building industrial park, known as Tukwila Commerce Center, was acquired at a discount to replacement cost and peak pricing, according to Brian Malliet, CEO and Co-Founder of BKM Capital Partners. The property was sold by Icon Tukwila Owner Pool 2, an LLC associated with Global Logistics Properties, in a deal brokered by CBRE. Global Logistics Properties, a Singapore investment and property management company with U.S. headquarters in Chicago, originally acquired the complex in April 2015 for $52.7 million from an affiliate of Walton Street Capital.

The Tukwila Commerce Center industrial park at 601-6699 Strander Blvd. and 800-1164 Industry Dr. in the Kent Valley submarket of Seattle was originally developed in the 1970s. The multi-tenant warehouse/business park buildings totaling 476,765 square feet was 83% leased at the time of sale to over 230 tenants. The 30.3 acre property is considered one of Seattle's premier multi-tenant business parks, with no new construction of this product type in the market, as another hasn't been built since the 1990's. BKM said it plans to invest another $7.9 million on the property, upgrading interiors and exteriors, including common areas.

August 16, 2016

Beverly Hills, CA-based Kennedy Wilson, a global real estate investment company, has sold the Ameron Center in Pasadena for $40.5 million, or $230 per square foot. The eight story office building was purchased by an entity connected to developer Patrick Chraghchian, president of American General Contractors (AGC), according to a report from The Real Deal. The sale marks a narrow profit for Kennedy Wilson, which originally acquired the building from Wells Fargo Bank in 2014 for $39 million. New York-based Berkadia represented both sides of the transaction, the terms of which were not disclosed.

Built in 1971, the 60,880 square foot office building at 245 South Los Robles was 25% leased at the time of sale, which has led to some speculation that the site could be used for development. The building was renovated in 1994 and subsequently won BOMA's Building of the Year Award. Located at the southwest corner of South Los Robles and Cordova, the property is adjacent to the full-service Sheraton and Hilton Hotels and near Old Town Pasadena and the Lake Avenue Business and Shopping District.

August 15, 2016

In a partnership that was first revealed in 2014, Hines and Cousins Properties have teamed to develop a 23-story office tower in Dallas' Victory Park project, and this week said they would be moving forward to break ground on the project. Hines and Cousins previously partnered on the development of One Ninety One Peachtree Tower in Atlanta, a 1.2 million-square-foot, 50-story office tower that was completed in 1990. The new tower, designed by Duda|Paine Architects, is expected to take 23 months to construct.

"Together with our partner, Cousins, we own the land and we have fully designed the building," Rob Witte, a senior managing director for Hines' southwest region, told the Dallas Business Journal."We are out in the marketplace with our brokers working to secure tenants and we have several strong prospects."

"Victory Center will be an excellent addition to the thriving Uptown Dallas office market, and we couldn't be more excited to be a part of the transformation occurring at Victory Park," Larry Gellerstedt, president and chief executive officer of Cousins Properties, said in a statement.

The 466,000-square-foot office and retail tower, known as Victory Center, will be located just north of Hines' One Victory Park, which was completed in 2008 and sold last month to New York-based Clarion Partners in a deal estimated at more than $170 million. Thad Ellis, a senior vice president and market leader for Hines in Dallas, previously said the company would like to land a large tenant — one in the 150,000-square-foot to 200,000-square-foot range — before breaking ground on the tower. Cushman & Wakefield are leasing the building on behalf of Hines and Cousins, with HFF acting as financial advisor on the project.

August 11, 2016

Hana Asset Management, a subsidiary of Hana Financial Group, one of the largest bank holding companies in South Korea, has purchased a Class A office project in Plainsboro, New Jersey for $305 million, making it the largest single-asset sale in New Jersey to date in 2016. The 762,000 square foot complex was sold by a partnership between Ivy Equities, LCOR Inc. and Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. in a deal brokered by Cushman & Wakefield; C&W also secured financing while Goulston & Storrs advised Hana in the transaction. The acquisition is the latest in Hana's program to acquire core office properties in the metropolitan areas of major U.S. cities, such as New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Houston and Seattle.

"The superior investment-grade tenant and durable in-place cash flow with contractual rent steps at 800 Scudders Mill enabled us to source this noteworthy partnership as the purchasing entity," said Andrew Merin of Cushman & Wakefield's Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group. "The result – a major offshore investment in New Jersey - is a big win for the state. The transaction came with a number of challenges, including the complexity of multiple partners on both sides of the sale."

"This was indeed a complex transaction involving a foreign entity trying to understand structural considerations for financing in the U.S.," John Alascio, a managing director with C&W, said in a prepared statement. "Future funding components are always complex in terms of logistics and obtaining lender approval. It can often be easier with single-tenant financing, which this is, but in this instance, given the nature of future funding and the earn-out of space to the tenant, it was particularly challenging. Overall, we delivered the best deal in the marketplace, working around the structural concerns of both the buyer and seller."

The Class A property features nine interconnected buildings on 59 acres in the heart of the Princeton sub market, and was originally developed in 1985 for Merrill Lynch. Novo Nordisk, headquartered at the office park, currently occupies 498,000 square feet on a net lease basis with expansion rights. The pharmaceutical company has occupied the campus since 2013, when the property underwent a full redevelopment.

August 10, 2016

Columbia, Maryland-based Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) announced that it completed the sale of the Arborcrest Corporate Campus in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, for $143 million. The four-building office project was sold to San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital in a deal brokered by JLL. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Spear Street Capital said it has retained JLL to continue both leasing and property management.

"We are looking for distinctive properties with proven appeal to a broad array of tenants. In addition, we are drawn to situations with substantial value creation opportunities either through new leasing or additional development. Arborcrest has an impressive roster of existing tenants but also has the capacity for significant new development," John Grassi, CEO of Spear Street Capital, told CPE.

Located at 751, 721 and 731 Arbor Way, Arborcrest Corporate Campus is a sprawling property that was once solely occupied by Unisys; in 1997, Corporate Office Properties Trust entered into a sale-leaseback deal with the company. Since then, COPT has invested nearly $100 million into repositioning the property and creating a campus for multiple tenants. The campus consists of four operating properties totaling 654,000 square feet that are 100% leased, plus 785 Jolly Road, an approximate 190,000 square foot redevelopment opportunity, and 27 acres of additional land.

August 09, 2016

Jackson, Mississippi-based StateStreet Group has purchased the AmeriPlex warehouse and office development in Nashville for $26.3 million. The four-building complex was sold by owner-developer Holladay Properties, which opened the property in 2009 as the company's first LEED industrial park. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; both companies were self-represented in the transaction. The deal gives StateStreet its seventh local property.

"We have enjoyed developing this Class A office/warehouse complex, where we finished the final phase of construction just this year," Allen Arender, Holladay Properties senior vice president of development, said in a statement. "AmeriPlex has attracted many of Nashville's most desirable tenants and it is set to be a highly successful property for a long time. It was a pleasure to work with the people at StateStreet. They truly appreciate the unique value of this property and I am confident it will continue to perform well under their management."

"AmeriPlex is a very desirable in-fill office/warehouse property in one of the best real estate markets in the country. It's in excellent condition and fully leased to several high quality national corporations including Epiphone, Bridgestone and DHL. We've been fortunate to grow our Nashville portfolio significantly and we continue to look for additional quality assets like AmeriPlex," added John Ditto, president of StateStreet Group.

Located at 1508 Elm Hill Pike, AmeriPlex at Elm Hill is situated at the heart of Nashville's industrial central business district and accommodates approximately 260,000 sq. ft. of office warehouse industrial space. The first 90,000 square foot building was developed in 2009; Holladay developed the site and operates from the 1508 building, and said it will remain in that office post sale.